With the assistance of Chelsea Love, 22, employee of Centria Health Care, George Veness steadies himself getting into his scooter in his Center Line home. (RAY SKOWRONEK/THE MACOMB DAILY)

An insurance company has refused to pay the medical bills of a Center Line man who was injured when his motorized scooter was hit by a vehicle, contending the scooter should have been insured like a car or truck.

The contention, if successful in the courts, would be a significant change to the law and potentially require thousands of scooter users in Michigan to obtain insurance, said Harold Perakis, attorney for George Veness.

“Basically, it’s a motorized wheelchair,” not a vehicle, he said of the scooter.

Advertisement

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. paid a small amount toward about $2 million in bills that Veness says resulted from the June 2012 incident in Center Line.

State Farm, joined by driver of the vehicle, Quintin Ramanauskas, and his insurance company, Farm Bureau, stopped paying at a time Veness needs another surgery that his doctor says is urgent to save his life. The insurance companies contend the scooter should be insured because it should be classified as a vehicle under Michigan’s No-Fault Act.

“Plaintiff’s mobility scooter was a motor vehicle because it was operated on a public highway by a power other than muscular and it has four wheels,” as required in the law, attorney Thomas Azoni says in documents in a lawsuit filed last year by Veness and his other insurance company, QBE North America, in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

QBE has covered Veness’ medical bills for his 2004 on-the-job injury from a fall from a roof that paralyzed him from the waist down.

Azoni is the attorney for Ramanauskas and Farm Bureau.

Veness, 63, was riding his scooter across Bernice Street near his home on his way to Dunkin Donuts on June 19, 2012, when it was hit by a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Ramanauskas, who was turning right onto Van Dyke. Ramanauskas, of Shelby Township, was found at fault in the accident.

Both sides agree the impact wasn’t major, as Azoni says the scooter was “slightly tapped.” But the impact exacerbated his prior injuries because it “tipped” the scooter and affected Veness’ colostomy wound and other areas, Perakis said. It caused a torn scrotum, ongoing back wounds, neck and back injury, relocation of a colostomy, stomach hernias and leg circulation problems.

Veness said the initial impact may have been minor but its effects have been major.

“I’m dying slowly,” Veness said. “I’m in a lot of pain. ”

Veness said before the car accident he was fairly independent despite his condition from the 2004 incident. He had planned to travel in his customized van to Texas to visit his grandchildren. But that trip is on hold. He previously required care only three days per week but since the accident needs around-the-clock care.

“It kinda ruined my whole life,” he said.

State Farm has ignored is pleas. Attorney Timothy Groustra argues in a legal filing: “Plaintiff’s failure to obtain PIP (personal insurance protection) on his scooter means that (state law) bars him from recovering PIP benefits from State Farm.”

Groustra says exceptions don’t apply. Those exceptions are for a moped, motorcycle or off-road vehicle, all of which do not require no-fault insurance.

But Perakis maintains in a brief that state law “recognizes that a paraplegic person that uses a mobility scooter … is a pedestrian. … Michigan law does not and has never recognized that an electrically-operated wheelchair is a ‘motor vehicle.’”

Perakis also quotes another state law, “A motor vehicle does not include an electric personal assistive mobility device.”

He called the defendants’ arguments disingenuous.

“They making this argument to save and make money,” Perakis said. “Somebody got the bright idea that they could make money from premiums and save money by denying claims.”

He said obtaining insurance would be a hardship for scooter users because many of them are on a fixed income.

State Farm spokeswoman Angie Rinock said State Farm and its attorneys cannot comment because the matter is in litigation.

The defendants’ attorneys also compared the scooter to a go-cart, which must be insured, according to a 1990 Court of Appeals ruling.

But Perakis notes that a scooter does not have a steering wheel or brakes and does not reach the speeds of a go-cart.

The defendants also argue the scooter should be insured because Veness was operating it on a “public highway.”

“Plaintiff required insurance for the mobilized scooter regardless of the short amount of time the scooter was on a public highway,” Azoni says.

Perakis dismisses that claim in documents, noting the responding police officer refers to Veness as a “pedestrian” in his report.

A status conference in the case is scheduled for July 17 in front of Judge John Foster.

While the legal proceedings continue, Veness and his doctor said Veness urgently needs another surgery to help heal a large open wound in his lower back by removing dead and infected bone from the area of the sacral bone, triangular-shaped at the bottom of the spine, according to a June 24 medical document provided by Veness.

The surgery is expected to cost about $150,000, Perakis said, but Veness cannot get it because QBE, State Farm and Farm Bureau refuse to pay for it.

“Each day that goes by my odds are worse,” Veness said.

In a “letter of urgent necessary surgery” to State Farm, Veness’ wound care doctor, Dr. Bruce Ruben, says: “Continued waiting for this surgery is potentially life threatening since the treatment is only suppressive and any breakthrough would be likely uncontrollable.”

Dr. James Cullington in Austin, Texas, has agreed to perform the surgery, Ruben says.

QBE has paid for millions of dollars of medical bills, including dozens of surgeries, related to Veness’ 2004 injury, and Veness is thankful that QBE has paid about three-quarters of the bills for injuries that may be attributed to the street accident, Perakis said.